The specification relates to a robotic navigation system. In particular, in some non-limiting embodiments, the specification relates to technology for the autonomous navigation of people using a robot network.
It is a challenge to navigate mobile automated systems (e.g., robots) in a dynamic environment that includes dynamic obstacles such as human crowds, a combination of static obstacles and moving obstacles, etc. Generally, only a very limited amount of information regarding the dynamic environment is available since the environment keeps changing continuously. For example, the number of moving objects (e.g., crowds of walking people) in the environment changes all the time and the paths and the destinations of the moving objects are unknown. This dynamic change in the environment presents a challenge to determine a safe and collision free path for navigating the mobile automated system to a destination while respecting social behavior norms.
Additionally, existing solutions generally dedicate a specific robot to each person requiring assistance, which is inefficient and adds additional obstacles to the environment. These systems are incapable of allocating a single robot to multiple people. Additionally, if a user does not follow the robot assigned to it, the system waits for a certain amount of time and quits if timeout is reached. The system assumes that the user will see the robot and resume following, which is inapplicable for certain types of users, such as a blind user.
Further, most blind-aid robotics solutions require the blind person to hold on to a dedicated robot specifically configured to guide him/her, while the robot pulls/pushes the user to guide him/her to his/her destination. Since the robot is configured to assist a specific individual, it limits the ability for it to provide service to multiple individuals, particularly in a dynamic environment.
In some cases where fewer robots than individuals exist in the crowd, some individuals may go unassisted or may be made to wait for unreasonable durations. As such, these solutions fail to provide an effective approach for navigating a mobile automated system in such a dynamic environment having heavy crowds.